The invention concerns bearings for rolling mill rolls, which have two roll necks each, at least one of which carries a neck sleeve fitted onto it at least in a certain region in the axial direction, with rotation being prevented by a feather key, where the neck sleeve is enclosed by a bearing bush supported in a chock, and a load-bearing lubricating film is provided between the neck sleeve and the bearing bush, and where the feather key is provided in a region of the roll neck that is located outside the region of the rolling force that acts on the neck sleeve and is transferred to the chock.
Plain bearings for rolling mill rolls have long been known. Previous plain bearings carried feather keys between the neck sleeve and the roll neck. However, these feather keys led to fluctuations in the rolling force during the rolling operation. It was possible for these rolls to be constructed short due to the fact that the feather keys were located in the region of the force-absorbing neck sleeve. As a result, the rolling stands were narrow. This made it possible to construct small foundations for the rolling stands, the mill halls, and the roll workshops.
However, to eliminate fluctuations in the rolling force, the generic patent application DE 26 12 744 A1 proposes that the feather keys be placed outside of the area of the rolling force acting upon the neck sleeve. This resulted in an increase in the length of the rolls. This in turn resulted in wider foundations, wider mill halls, and wider roll workshops.